I couldn't stand seeing this piece of art being rated so low. **** Amano's work left another huge impression on me, just like he did with Final Fantasy 6.
Few movies have kept coming back into my mind like this one did. The character design and musical theme of Grove have stuck in my mind over 20 years since I watched this movie for the first time. Art, music and animation are very exceptional. Together with the story, characters and the setting it creates a unique and desperate atmosphere.
This movie inspired me to a lot of thoughts. To me, one of the strongest themes of this movie is about the million reasons why humans keep causing pain to themselves and others and how hard (or impossible) it can be to escape this endless cycle that has plagued humankind forever. Overall I think this movie has a lot to give, if you are able to enjoy it with an open mind and accepting that it's a dark, brutal and sad journey.
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is an animated movie written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, which has been involved in a lot of anime that I love, from directing CLAMP’s X/1999 adaptation to anime, to making storyboards for modern favorites like Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen, among many others.
Bloodlust tells us a brief story on the long life of adventures of D, a dhampir (half-human and half-vampire) bounty hunter who has been tasked to save the daughter of a rich man that has been abducted and possibly killed by a noble and powerful vampire. If the premise sounds simple it’s because it is, however, there’s a lot to chew off in between.
The first thing that you may notice will be its animation and design, motion in characters it is flawlessly done not only for action-packed fights (which the movie has its fair share of) but also with seamless more personal moments, and it is only accentuated by its terrific character and location design. Bloodlust is one of those movies on which even if the plot wasn’t good it will still be a joy to watch due to its excellent artistry work. **** Amano (of Final Fantasy fame) was the mind behind the original character designs for the novels and I believe that the character designs for this movie based on his work are the best adaptation of his art to date.
The whole movie has a Western genre feel to it, more particularly a Spaghetti Western feeling, it uses a lot of silent moments to let you sink in its apocalyptic world, and also utilizes its geography to convey sentiments like isolation or magnitude, in one of the first scenes D needs to traverse a giant desert inhabited by titanic manta-like flying monsters just to let us know the vastness of this world and the almost meaningless existence of humans, to give an example.
The rhythm of the movie goes pretty good until we’re introduced to the supporting cast, a human team of eccentric bounty hunters which also serves as some sort of rival entity for D. These characters aren’t badly written or boring mind you, on the contrary, their presence on screen it’s always entertaining, however, it is because of them and some antagonists introduced soon after that a lot of the Western tension wears off since we now have a lot of expository scenes and the film goes towards a more action-focused threshold. Maybe the major offender is D’s left hand, which has a speaking mouth with a mind of their own, again, this character isn’t bad either and I imagine that for a silent medium like Manga, you need a character that explains us things that we need to know but will be hard to tell naturally in another way, but still, I would prefer to have more contemplative moments which required my interpretation and not some character’s explanation. Another thing it’s when hitting the second half of the movie, it somehow has this structure of hunting down some enemies and it makes the rhythm a little repetitive and formulaic. Still, in the great scheme of things, these issues aren’t as bad and maybe for other people would be good.
Bloodlust is at its best when it lets us traverse its world without the hand of exposition, nonetheless, it is an incredibly animated and beautiful movie. It wasn’t as well-received as it should when it first launched, it sure has some issues in some regards but by any means possible it is a bad movie, not only it is a good animation film but also a great Western movie that it may have one of my favorite endings that I have seen on the genre. If you happen, to stumble upon this movie, please check it out, its auto conclusive nature lets you enjoy it even if you don’t know anything about this universe beforehand.
As usual with anime features, just because it's animated doesn't mean it's for kids; heads roll and blood spurts, so know that going in, mom and dad. For the older crowd, though, it's gory and gorgeous bliss.
It's a must-see for horror buffs and anime fans; and while it lacks the haunting thematic underpinnings of "Blood The Last Vampire," -- it's a more satisfying movie-going experience.
very high quality animation, maybe in the top 5. Considering a relatively muted color palette that's impressive. With Yoshiaki Kawajiri directing, after making my favorite anime (Ninja Scroll) with Madhouse studios, it's no wonder this is impressive. Sadly, the script does not match the visuals.
This time, D talks a lot. Not cool like in the first. The second movie is not as good as the first, yet it has some fantastic scenes in it. No wonder I love Hellsing and Castlevania.